Hello from Toronto!

Just a quick introduction, I've been drinking tea my whole life, but not with much attention until recently. Most of my experience has been with blacks, and I do enjoy the (very occasional) addition of milk and sugar. I've been looking into teas for about a year now, and have finally got around to ordering some of the "good" stuff online.

Really excited about the oolong order, in particular, since I've not tried one before, but all the descriptions I've read about it suggest it'll be to my taste. Rest assured, I'll be posting about the resulting successes/failures

I do plan on giving a serious try to greens and whites, but one thing at a time

Anyway, happy to be here, and looking forward to much tea chat. Cheers!

As well as ordering online (and you have chosen 2 fine sources from which to order) there are a couple of good local tea stores in Toronto. I would be interested to learn which local Toronto places you have tried.

Thanks, Sherubtse! And I'd love to know what those are. The online vendors I picked after much lurking here, but I haven't come across mention of good brick-and-mortar stores in Toronto. I've only been to David's Tea, and I think I'll go back there for some scented teas, but not much else.

dRummie wrote:Thanks, Sherubtse! And I'd love to know what those are. The online vendors I picked after much lurking here, but I haven't come across mention of good brick-and-mortar stores in Toronto. I've only been to David's Tea, and I think I'll go back there for some scented teas, but not much else.

Let me know which types of tea you are interested in, and I will suggest some TO shops to try.

Hmm.. well, I'd love to have a local source for just about anything, but especially good black tea of the stronger types, like Assams.Also, if you know of anyplace I could give Pu Erh a try without buying whole cakes. I'm all set with major tea purchases for now, but it would be nice to get my feet wet with some samples I don't have to have shipped. Thanks!

dRummie wrote:Hmm.. well, I'd love to have a local source for just about anything, but especially good black tea of the stronger types, like Assams.Also, if you know of anyplace I could give Pu Erh a try without buying whole cakes. I'm all set with major tea purchases for now, but it would be nice to get my feet wet with some samples I don't have to have shipped. Thanks!

Well, for blacks I would suggest T-Buds. They have perhaps the best balance / trade-off of selection, quality and price in the city.

For pu-erhs, try Tea Dynasty. In addition, you can get some nice Chinese greens at Tea Dynasty.

Both shops are good places to start exploring what Toronto has to offer in terms of loose leaf tea. And both places sell tea in smaller, sample-size lots.

I would also suggest that you stay away from the chains. If, however, you must go to a chain, then The Tea Emporium would be the best bet for both blacks and pu-erhs. But they refuse to sell in less than 50 g., unless you buy a high end tea from them.

tieguanyinfan wrote:If you would ever like to find out where to get Gong-fu teaware just give a shout. Or even cakes of Pu-erh or Dancong or Dahongpao -I've gone through the whole city searching high and low haha.

I'm interested in those places. Please let me know the ones you have in mind.